9.  On 8 May 1996 the applicant was arrested in New York (USA) and placed in detention on the basis of a extradition request from the authorities of the Netherlands Antilles where he had been charged with embezzlement and forgery. He was extradited to the Netherlands Antilles on 30 May 1996 and detained in the Pointe Blanche Penitentiary on the island of St. Maarten.
10.  In a document dated 18 June 1996 bearing the applicant’s signature, it is stated that the applicant appointed Mr D. Gebhardt as the:
“true and lawful Attorney in my name, place and stead and for my use and benefit: To exercise any or all of the following powers as to my criminal case in the Netherlands Antilles, any interest therein and thereon. To appoint or terminate lawyers, receive and take possession of documents, to ask demand, sue for, recover, collect and receive all necessary documents in my criminal case, and appeal any decision, file complaints and whatsoever. Giving and granting to my said Attorney full powers and authority ... until this power is revoked.”
11.  On 11 December 1996, following adversarial proceedings during which the applicant was assisted by Mr R. – a local legal aid lawyer to whom the case had been assigned –, the First Instance Court (Gerecht in Eerste Aanleg) of the Netherlands Antilles convicted the applicant of embezzlement and fraud and sentenced him to three years and nine months’ imprisonment. Both the applicant and the public prosecutor filed an appeal with the Joint Court of Justice (Gemeenschappelijk Hof van Justitie) of the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba.
12.  On 7 October 1997, following adversarial proceedings during which the applicant was represented by Mr J. – a local lawyer –, the Joint Court of Justice quashed the judgment of 11 December 1996, convicted the applicant of embezzlement and forgery and sentenced him to three years’ imprisonment. Although on 13 October 1997 the applicant filed an appeal in cassation with the Netherlands Supreme Court (Hoge Raad), he subsequently withdrew this appeal. Consequently, the Joint Court of Justice’s judgment of 7 October 1997 became final. On 27 February 1998, after having served his sentence, the applicant was released from prison.
13.  On 21 September 1996 the applicant sent a letter of complaint about the conditions of detention in the Point Blanche Penitentiary, where he was held, to one of the judges of the First Instance Court of St. Maarten, in the latter’s capacity as a member of the Prisons and Remand Centres Supervisory Board (Commissie van Toezicht Gevangeniswezen en Huizen van Bewaring).
14.  In this letter, in which the applicant referred to a conversation he had had with this judge on 20 September 1996, the applicant explained, among other things, that inmates were locked in their cells for 21 hours a day with nothing to do, that after ten days’ detention in Point Blanche an inmate was permitted on the following Saturday a maximum of four sheets of paper and four envelopes, that there were no telephone facilities apart from previously announced incoming telephone calls not exceeding fifteen minutes, that inmates had to provide for their own clothing and bed linen, which they had to wash in the showers or primitive sinks during recreation, that toilets did not flush and that shower taps and pipes were leaking. In his letter the applicant suggested practical solutions for these matters and explained why such solutions would be beneficial for all concerned.
15.  On 13 January 1998, the applicant informed the European Commission of Human Rights (“the Commission”) that he had been transferred to the Koraal Specht Prison on the island of Curaçao for medical reasons and had been admitted to the infirmary there. The applicant stated that, apart from the bathroom, the infirmary had no lights after sunset and inmates remained locked in for 23 hours a day.
16.  In his letter of 5 February 1998, the applicant informed the Commission that, on 31 January 1998, he had been transferred from the infirmary to the adjacent old infirmary building, where he was detained in a cell of about 5 metres long and 3 metres wide. He shared this cell with three other persons. Two slept on temporary beds, two others on the floor. He was provided with a foam mattress. No sheets or blankets were provided and he was not allowed to retrieve his own sheets from his personal belongings. He stated that he used a towel as a cover.
17.  By letter of 7 April 1997, Mr D. Gebhardt, who initially represented the applicant in the proceedings before the Commission and subsequently the Court, complained to the Director of the Point Blanche Penitentiary that his letters to the prisoners there, including the applicant, had been opened and withheld by the prison authorities although these letters were marked “from lawyer to client”. Mr Gebhardt drew the Director’s attention to the Court’s judgment of 25 February 1992 in the case of Campbell v. the United Kingdom (Series A no. 233). He requested the Director to ensure that his earlier letters, which had been withheld in the past, be delivered to the addressees and that his clients be provided with official letter paper for their correspondence with him.
18.  By letter of 9 April 1997, enclosing a copy of his letter of 7 April 1997 to the Director of the Point Blanche Penitentiary, Mr Gebhardt filed a complaint against the Director of the Point Blanche Penitentiary with the Governor (Gouverneur) of the Netherlands Antilles. Apart from other general problems concerning this Director’s activities, Mr Gebhardt complained that the Point Blanche prison authorities had restricted the applicant’s possibilities to acquaint himself with the contents of his case-file, a copy of which his defence lawyer had given him. On the basis of these restrictions, the lawyer retrieved the documents, as the lawyer-client privilege was not guaranteed. Mr Gebhardt requested the Governor to ensure that the principle of confidentiality between lawyers and their clients be respected by issuing the necessary instructions to the Director of the Point Blanche Penitentiary.
19.  On 22 July 1997, the Cabinet of the Governor informed Mr Gebhardt that the Governor had received a report on these matters from the Minister of Justice and that the latter had been requested on 13 June 1997 to answer Mr Gebhardt’s letter. On 25 September 1997, the Cabinet of the Governor informed Mr Gebhardt that the Minister of Justice had been reminded to answer Mr Gebhardt’s letter.
20.  On 1 September 1997, Mr Gebhardt informed the Governor of the Netherlands Antilles that he had not yet received any response from the Minister of Justice of the Netherlands Antilles. Mr Gebhardt further stated the applicant had appointed him to represent him in proceedings before the Commission, in which context the applicant needed to sign a power of attorney sent to Mr Gebhardt by the Commission’s Secretariat. With reference to his letter of 9 April 1997, Mr Gebhardt stated that, contrary to Article 8 of the Convention, the prison authorities were blocking his access to the applicant. Mr Gebhardt therefore requested the Governor to ensure that the applicant would receive and return the Commission’s standard letter of authority.
21.  On 27 September 1997, the public prosecutor of St. Maarten, to whom Mr Gebhardt’s letter of 1 September 1997 had been forwarded, sent the power of attorney signed by the applicant to Mr Gebhardt.
22.  As in the meantime Mr Gebhardt had also informed the Commission’s Secretariat that he had had difficulties obtaining access to the applicant, the Secretariat of the Commission sent a letter on 1 October 1997 to the applicant directly, requesting him to complete, sign and return a power of attorney for his representation by Mr Gebhardt in the proceedings before the Commission.
23.  On 28 October 1997, the Commission’s Secretariat received the completed and signed letter of authority from the applicant directly. The letter was stamped by the St. Maarten prison authorities and bore an illegible mark written by hand with a red ink ballpoint pen, which appeared to be a prison officer’s visa. In the accompanying letter, the applicant informed the Commission that the prison authorities had opened the Commission’s letter of 1 October 1997.
24.  By letter of 14 November 1997, the Commission’s Secretariat requested the applicant to provide further details as to the opening of the Commission’s letter of 1 October 1997 and the control exercised by the prison authorities of correspondence between the applicant and the Commission.
25.  On 12 December 1997, the Commission received the applicant’s reply, stating that he had also received the Commission’s letter of 14 November 1997 after it had been opened by the prison authorities. When the letter was given to him, he was told that it had been opened by mistake and that, after it had been read, it had not been stamped. The applicant submitted the original of the Commission’s letter of 1 October 1997 – which carried the same stamp and red ballpoint mark as the authority form – and the original letter of 14 November 1997 which carried no stamp or other mark.
26.  In his letter, the applicant explained that the prison stamp on his letters to the Commission had been placed on blank paper prior to his writing on it. He had addressed this letter to the President of the European Commission and had sealed the envelope himself, as only letters addressed to the President of the European Commission were exempted from control by the prison authorities and, consequently, could be sealed by inmates themselves. He further stated he was not allowed to personally seal his mail to his lawyer.
27.  On 20 December 1997, Mr Gebhardt addressed a complaint to the Office of the Public Prosecutor of St. Maarten about problems at the Point Blanche Penitentiary in respect of his correspondence with various detainees there. The applicant was not included in the list of detainees cited. Referring to Article 8 of the Convention, Mr Gebhardt requested the public prosecutor to ensure that any correspondence between detainees and the Commission and between detainees and himself be treated as confidential by the Point Blanche Prison authorities.
28.  In his letter of 5 February 1998, the applicant informed the Commission that on 20 January 1998 he had received a letter from his lawyer which had been opened.
29.  On 10 June 1997, Mr Gebhardt addressed a letter concerning the applicant’s case to the Queen of the Netherlands. On 24 July 1997, Mr Gebhardt was informed by the Minister for Netherlands-Antillean and Aruban Affairs that the letter of 10 June 1997 had been forwarded to this Ministry. Since the applicant’s case was still sub iudice, the Minister stated that:
“the Antillean judicial authorities still have to judge your defence statement, in which your refer to the treatment of your client. I have full confidence in the judgment of these authorities.”
Mr Gebhardt was further informed that a copy of his letter had been sent to the Governor of the Netherlands Antilles, requesting the latter to bring the matter to the attention of the Minister of Justice.
30.  On 26 August 1997, Mr Gebhardt addressed a petition to the Queen of the Netherlands requesting the applicant’s release, arguing that the applicant was being unlawfully detained in inhuman conditions.
31.  On 5 December 1997, Mr Gebhardt addressed a further letter to the Queen of the Netherlands in which he gave an account of the applicant’s state of health while in detention and, among other things, complained of the lack of response to these problems from the authorities. He requested the Queen to intervene in order to obtain medical parole for the applicant.
32.  On 23 December 1997, with reference to the letter of 24 July 1997, Mr Gebhardt informed the Minister for Netherlands-Antillean and Aruban Affairs that neither the Governor of the Netherlands Antilles nor the Minister of Justice of the Netherlands Antilles had replied.